History of
party

In May 2007 Mironov proposed a merger between the Communist Party
of the Russian Federation and Just Russia in order to create a
new unified socialist party.[6] Mironov
invited all "honest socialists" to join the party. However, his
proposal was rejected by Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the CPRF, who
claimed that Just Russia's claim to be a leftist party was a
charade. [7]

On April 25, 2008, A Just Russia held its third annual congress,
where the party expelled thousands of members who were not aware
that they were members. The party's charter was amended at the
congress to make mergers easier. The congress also disbanded the
party's politburo and transferred its functions to the Central
Council. The politburo's chairman, Nikolai Levichev who also heads
Just Russia's faction in the State Duma, was elected as the council's
first secretary.

Ideology

Just Russia is also politically more to the left than United Russia,
which is considered more politically to the right and generally
more in favour of cautious economic liberalism. The leader of United Russia, Boris Gryzlov, has
stated that he regards his party as a conservative party,
while Just Russia's website carries the slogan "We are the party of
the working man".

Criticism

While it wishes to challenge United Russia, it strongly supported the
former PresidentVladimir Putin and has been criticised
as being an opposition party in name only.[11]
Mironov, for his part, has argued that the creation of Just Russia
marks the establishment of a two-party system in Russia, and that
his new group will provide a much-needed check on United Russia's
current hegemony over the Duma's
proceedings.

The party has been accused by Russian human rights organizations
of hosting radical nationalist[12] and
antisemitic politicians[13].

Electoral
results

Just Russia did well in regional elections held in Russia on
Sunday March 11, 2007 but didn't manage to become the second most
voted party, a place that is still held by the Communist Party
of the Russian Federation. It scored second place in six of the
fourteen regions where elections were taking place, and took first
place in StavropolKrai. Preliminary results showed that
the party won an average of 15% across the fourteen regions
arriving third after CPRF's 16% and United Russia's 45%[14].

Opinion polls in August found that Just Russia's popularity had
increased from seven percent to eleven percent, assuring it of
representation at the 2007 Russian
parliamentary election, mainly at the expense of the LDPR. On December
8, 2007, it was announced that the party has obtained 38 seats at
the Duma.